Beverage container counter device



Au 22,1967 L. D. PROCTOR 3,336,665

BEVERAGE CONTAINER COUNTER DEVICE Filed Aug. 8, 1966 F'IG.3

INVENTOR, LESTER D. PROCTOR United States Patent 3,336,665 BEVERAGE CONTAINER COUNTER DEVICE Lester D. Proctor, 1580 Getwell St., Memphis, Tenn. 38111 Filed Aug. 8, 1966, Ser. No. 570,962 Claims. (Cl. 306.1)

This invention relates to new and useful improvements .in counter devices, and more particularly to counter devices for beverage containers and the like.

There have been heretofore numerous counting devices, but these prior devices have been primarily designed and adapted for counting and recording large quantities of manufactured items as on an endless conveyor belt carrying materials from mass production machines. These prior counting devices have additionally been dependent for their operation upon intricate electric or electronic circuitry.

The principal object of the device of the present invention is to provide a counter device for beverage containers to record accurately the number of containers sold.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a beverage container counter device operated by a relatively simple electrical circuit.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a beverage container counter device adapted for use with conventional opener means.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a beverage container counter device actuated by the passage of a container crown cap therethrough; and

A further object of the present invention is generally to improve the design, constructions and efficiency of beverage container counter devices.

The means by which the foregoing and other objects of the present invention are accomplished and the manner of their accomplishment will be readily understood from the following specification upon reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of an alternate form of the device of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a rear perspective View of the device of FIG. 4.

Referring now to the drawings in which the various parts are indicated by numerals the preferred embodiment of the present inevntion comprises a substantially oblong housing 11 having a top 13, a bottom 15, a pair of oppositely spaced substantial parallel sides 17, a front panel 19, and a rear closure 21. The front panel 19 is provided with a substantially elongated slot 23 formed through the panel 19 on the vertical axis thereof somewhat below the top 13. The width of the slot 23 is somewhat larger in dimension than the diameter of a conventional beverage bottle neck to allow the passage of the beverage bottle neck therethrough into the inner chamber 25 of the housing 11.

The device further comprises a fiat metal plate 27 in abuting adjacency with the panel 19 and attached to the innermost face thereto as by screws or like fastening means. The plate 27 is provided with an elongated slot 29 somewhat below the top of the plate 19 of a similar contour with the slot 23 in the front panel 19 and in adjacent register therewith. The plate 27 is additionally provided with vertical partition means 33 attached to the undersurface of the top 13 and depending downwardly therefrom substantially the length of the chamber 25.

I 3,336,665 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 The partition 33 is provided with a bottle crown cap removing means 35 rigidly attached to the fore surface of the partition 33 in substantially spaced alinement with the elongated slot 29 of the plate 27 and the slot 23 in the front 19 of the housing 11. The crown cap removing means 35 are further maintained in vertical alinement with a chute 31 and spaced thereabove to direct the bottle crown caps removed from the beverage bottles downwardly from the crown cap removing means 35 into and beyond the chute 31 to a crown storage bin 37 formed in the lower portion of the chamber 25 of the housing 11.

A conventional micro switch 39 is securely attached to the inboard face of the depending partition 33, substantially in opposite alinement with the upper portion of the chute 31, and is provided with an angularly rear wardly extending actuating lever 40. The lever 40 extends forwardly away from the switch 39 through the guide slot 41 formed in the partition 33 and into the throat of the chute 31.

The present invention is further provided with a registering counter 43 mounted upon the rear surface of the partition 33 somewhat offset from and above the micro switch 39, as best illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawings. The present invention additionally comprises a transformer 45, carried by the partition 33, a lead 47 from the transformer 45 to the micro switch 39, another lead 49 from the transformer 45 to the counter 43, a lead 51 from the counter 43 to the micro switch 39, and a power cable 53 from the transformer 45 to a source of electrical power (not shown).

The rear closure 21 is provided with a window 55 substantially coextensive in length with the width of the closure and of a width of suflicient dimension to allow the user of the device an unobstructed view of the counter 43 and ready accessibility to the micro switch 39, the transformer 45 and the power cable 53. The window 55 further provides a means of removing the crown caps from the storage bin 37. The rear closure 21 is additionally provided with a pair of equidistantly spaced apertures 56 for mounting the housing 11 upon a suitable beverage bottle container or upon a wall.

The present invention is further provided with a resilient curtain 57 attached to the rear of the plate 27 and interposed in spaced alinement with the plate 27 and the crown cap removing means 35. The resilient curtain 57 is provided with a substantially oval orifice 59 in horizontal alinement with the upper portion of the slot 29 of the plate 27 and the crown cap removing means 35, and a somewhat restricted slit 61 depending substantially axially downwardly from the periphery of the oval orifice 59.

In the use of the device of the present invention, the beverage bottle neck is inserted into the housing 11 through the slots 23, 29 and the orifice 59 into engagement with the crown removing means 35 where the crown cap is removed from the beverage bottle. When the bottle neck is withdrawn from the housing 11 the crown cap is permitted to fall as by gravity, downwardly into the chute 31, to strike the trip lever 40, moving the lever 40 pivotally downwardly to close the electrical circuit through the transformer 45 and the counter 43 and cause the counter to register a succeeding number on its dials. As the crown cap passes from the chute 31 downwardly into the storage bin 37, the trip lever 40 returns to its normal horizontal position de-energizing the circuit and permitting the counter 43 to retain the indicated number on its dials until the circuit is -re-energized by another crown cap striking the trip lever 40 to record a successively larger number on the counter 43. The housing 11 may contain a plurality of chutes 31, crown cap removing means 35, trip levers 40 and counters 43 therein for the counting of various beverage containers utilized thereby without altering the basic structure of the device.

In an alternate form of the present invention, as best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, a conventional beverage can piercing means 63 is provided with a box-like structure 65 embracing a portion of the base 67 of the piercing means and a substantial portion of the upstanding column 69. The column 69 is provided with a handle 71 pivotally attached thereto and partially embraced by the recess 73 formed in the top of the box-like structure 65. The handle 71 is provided with a pair of spaced apart, substantially triangular tabs 75, 77 for piercing either of the ends of a metal beverage container placed within the base 67 of the can piercing means 63 adjacent the upstanding column 69. The handle 71 is provided with a rearwardly disposed bar 79 extending somewhat below the pivotal shaft with a counterbalance weight 80 securely aflixed to the distal end thereof. The handle 71 is additionally provided with a lobe 81 securely attached to one of its sides and a substantially flexible cable 83 affixed to the lowermost end of the lobe 81 extending arcuately downwardly into linking connection with the arm 85 of the mechanical counter 87 attached to the pedestal portion of the upstanding column 69. i

It will thus be readily seen upon reference to FIGS. 4 and of the drawings that when the handle 71 is pivotally depressed as in the process of puncturing of a metal beverage container, the portion of the handle disposed below the pivotal shaft is arcuately raised to stretch the attached cable 83 upwardly actuating the linkably connected arm 85 to allow the counter 81 to record and register a successively higher number on its dials.

The alternate form of the device of the present invention may be provided with rear closure means (not shown) to further conceal the mechanical counter from view.

I claim:

1. A beverage container counter device in combination with container crown cap removing means comprising a housing, a chamber formed in the housing, a partition mounted within said chamber, said crown removing means carried by the partition, slot means in the front panel of the housing for ingress therein of a portion of a beverage container, unidirectional chute means affixed within the chamber in vertical alinement with said crown caps removing means for the passage therethrough of a beverage container crown cap, a switch attached to said partition having a trip lever extending therefrom into the chute to momentarily interrupt the passage of a crown cap through said chute, said interruption causing the trip lever to energize an electrical circuit from a power source through a transformer mounted in the chamber, the circuit providing energy from said transformer through said switch and then to the beverage container counter device to record numerically the crown cap, and a storage bin for the containment of the crown caps registered and deposited therein from the chute.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein plate means are interposed between the front panel of the housing and the inner chamber thereof for the support and alinement of the said chute.

3. A device in accordance with claim 2, wherein the housing is provided with a perforated resilient curtain attached to said plate means to contain the crown cap within the chamber of said housing.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the partition is provided with guide means to maintain said trip lever in vertical alinement therein.

5. A beverage container counter device comprising a base, a column attached to said base, said column provided with a handle having container piercing means aflixed thereto, a Weight attached to the distal end of the handle, a lobe secured to said handle adjacent the weight, flexible cable means linkably connected between said lobe and counter means mounted upon the column for registering the number of beverage containers pierced by said piercing means, and a box-like structure affixed to the column for the containment of the weight, the lobe, the flexible cable means and the counter means therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,663,077 12/1953 Fortune et al 30-6.1 2,923,188 2/1960 Lucarelli 813.3 3,279,054 10/1966 Yawn et al. 30-4 FOREIGN PATENTS 116,121 5/ 1918 Great Britain.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

G. WEIDENFELD, Assistant Examiner. 

5. A BEVERAGE CONTAINER COUNTER DEVICE COMPRISING A BASE, A COLUMN ATTACHED TO SAID BASE, SAID COLUMN PROVIDED WITH A HANDLE HAVING CONTAINER PIERCING MEANS AFFIXED THERETO, A WEIGHT ATTACHED T THE DISTAL END OF THE HANDLE, A LOBE SECURED TO SAID HANDLE ADJACENT THE WEIGHT, FLEXIBLE CABLE MEANS LINKABLY CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID LOBE AND COUNTER MEANS MOUNTED UPON THE COLUMN FOR REGISTER ING THE NUMBER OF BEVERAGE CONTAINERS PIERCED BY SAID PIERCING MEANS, AND A BOX-LIKE STRUCTURE AFFIXED TO THE COLUMN FOR THE CONTAINMENT OF THE WEIGHT, THE LOBE, THE FLEXIBLE CABLE MEANS AND THE COUNTER MEANS THEREIN. 